Compatibility withVideo Devices

Willing Webcam is compatible with most USB-based or FireWire (IEEE 1394) video devices, including webcams, camcorders, TV and video capture cards, TV tuners, Canon digital cameras, and IP network cameras. We also support the pan, tilt, and zoom features of Logitech webcameras.

Time Lapse

Please pay attention to examples of using a video file in the directory 'Program Files\Willing Webcam\Web Pages\Time Lapse'.

The program hides some time lapse options while it is working, because changing these options at this time can cause a target file corruption. If you change these options when the feature is disabled, the program may not continue a current time lapse file at the next start and instead create a new file.

The program sometimes cannot exit from an error state during recording, so it restarts and creates a new file. It is possible that the program keeps restarting again and again. Remove the current time lapse file manually in this case.

The program can start a new file each day, according to the 'Max file size Mb' option or after reaching the Windows size limit of 2GB.

If you want, enable the 'Time Lapse' feature with a smaller timer period. The minimum period is 0.1 second.

The Time Lapse feature differs from the 'Motion Detection > Actions > Time Lapse'. The last one has the 'Scene duration (sec)' option.

How to upload a time lapse file using FTP
Frequently asked questions: Time Lapse

Here are some tips about codecs.

MS Video 1. All Windows operating systems have the MS Video 1 codec by default. The codec is stable, but its compression is not very good. You can see an example of using an avi video file in the directory 'Program Files\Willing Webcam\Web Pages\Time Lapse\AVI'. The Internet Explorer is the only browser that supports controls for embedded avi files.

Indeo(R) video 5.10. This is a very interesting codec with good compression. All Windows operating systems have it by default, but Vista and Windows 7 do not register it, so if you want to make it work, you must register the codec using the Windows command line: regsvr32 ir50_32.dll. By the way, the latest program installation does this registration itself. The codec is free, but the Media Player shows video with this codec only locally. Media Player does not show video via the Internet. The paid codec Indeo(R) video 5.20 does not have this limitation and the time lapse feature supports the codec too, if you select the 'Indeo(R) video 5.10' item.

SWF. You can see an example of using a video file in the directory 'Program Files\Willing Webcam\Web Pages\Time Lapse\SWF'. Adobe Flash Player loads the entire video file in memory when you are viewing it. If the file is very large, your computer may run low on memory. In this case, you should reduce the following value: 'Time Lapse > Max file size Mb'.

Enable
Enable time-lapse video.

Split
Split time lapse file on program startup without confirmation. If unchecked, time lapse file will be continued.

New file every day
It splits the time lapse file on the first frame that will be saved on a new day.

Create a subfolder
The program will create a subfolder according to the time format and current date.

Time format
You can create subfolders with time in their names. See the format description in the help files for the Time Caption feature. Use the '\' character in the 'Time format' string to create embedded subfolders.

File Name
Time-lapse file name.

Cycle
Enable the time lapse cycle. If the checkbox is not selected, and 'Enable time lapse' is selected, only the image capture operation will add an image to the time lapse file.

Value
Time-lapse cycle value according to time period.

Period
Time-lapse cycle period.

Binding
Starts from nearest time mark on the fixed time net thus binding to it.

Frame Rate
Playback frames per second.

Compression
Enable video compressor.

Quality
Quality value passed to the video compressor.

File name format
Select the mode how to create file names for the file sequence.

Time format
You can add timestamps to file names in all features that can produce file sequences. See the format description in the help files for the Time Caption feature.

Schedule
Enable scheduled time lapse recording according to date and time.

From
Start time.

To
End time.

Sunrise
Automatically changes the 'From' time value every day according to your geographic location.

Sunset
Automatically changes the 'To' time value every day according to your geographic location.
See also the 'Preferences > Location' options. You have to specify your precise coordinates
(degrees) taken from a GPS receiver or a map in the 'Preferences > Location > Longitude' and 'Latitude' fields
Longitude is positive to the east from Greenwich. Latitude is positive in
the Northern hemisphere. The time zone is positive to the east from Greenwich.

Monday-Sunday
Enable Monday-Sunday recording.

Zoom Out %
Zoom out the preview image.

Crop
Crop an image, removing any outside the border.

X
Specifies the x-coordinate of the upper-left corner of the crop rectangle.

Y
Specifies the y-coordinate of the upper-left corner of the crop rectangle.